Digital Waters Flagship

Water is essential for good quality of life, and its integrated and sustainable management is the only way to secure water for people and ecosystems. The University of Oulu has a leading position as a research environment for hydrology and water engineering, and the Digital Waters Flagship, coordinated by the University of Oulu, aims to enable sustainable solutions for water management through water research and digital representation of real-world water systems.

Towards sustainable water management

Digital Waters Flagship enables a transition towards the digital representation of real-world water systems (digital twins) to reproduce hydrological storages and their usage, with novel options for improved scenario analysis, planning and governance. The digitalisation of water resources will improve the management and security of water supply, distribution and use, for example in the event of flooding or droughts. Digital water management will also help balance the objectives of industry, energy, agriculture and forestry in a sustainable way. The water sector also has a huge business potential.

The Digital Waters Flagship partnership, led by the University of Oulu, involves the University of Turku, the Aalto University, the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, the Finnish Environment Institute and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. In addition, the partners include Finnish research infrastructures, international research organisations, nearly 200 companies, public bodies and non-governmental organisations. The flagship is supported by the Research Council of Finland. Its national Flagship Programme supports high-quality research and increases the economic and societal impact emerging from the research.